Religious Fundamentalism: A Conceptual and Empirical Study Among Muslims of Turkish Origin in Germany

Abstract Muslims in Europe face reservations due to the association of Islam with fundamentalism and extremism. Our study aims to use a new concept of fundamentalism and new data to identify factors that correlate with fundamentalism, and to investigate how far these attitudes are associated with the acceptance of violence. Fundamentalism is defined as an attitude characterized by the claim to exclusive truth, to superiority over all other positions, to the universal validity of the exclusive truth, and to the transformation of the world according to the yardstick of this truth. Empirical analyses show that feelings of disadvantage and exclusion as well as traditional religious ties contribute to fundamentalism, while integration indicators play only a subordinate role. Additionally, social structure seems partially decoupled from feelings of disadvantage among Muslims scoring high on fundamentalism. Although correlated with fundamentalism, acceptance of violence could not be identified as an inherent component of fundamentalism.